GOP RIVALS BATTLE OVER ECONOMY

Romney, Santorum spar a day before Mich., Ariz. contests

LIVONIA, Mich. - On the eve of a Michigan showdown, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum swapped insults Monday in a struggle for the Republican presidential nomination growing so long and heated that party officials fretted openly it could harm prospects for winning the White House this fall.

On this day, the subject was their competing plans for the economy.

“Sen. Santorum is a nice guy, but he’s never had a job in the private sector,” Romney said as he and his closest rival charged across the state in a final day of pre-primary campaigning.

Santorum said Romney’s tax cut plans mirror the rhetoric of Occupy Wall Street and include “just more Obama-style class warfare.”

The Santorum campaign sponsored computerized phone calls urging Michigan Democrats to vote against Romney in the state’s Republican primary, which is allowed if they declare themselves Republicans for the purpose of voting. Romney called the effort a “dirty trick” in a Fox News interview Monday night, but Santorum defended the “robocall” as positive and told the network that the calls were part of an effort to attract Democratic voters he would need in a general election.

The ubiquitous polls showed a close race in Michigan, where Romney was born and won a primary in his first bid for the White House four years ago. Santorum surged unexpectedly into contention two weeks ago, benefiting from caucus victories in Minnesota and Colorado and stressing unflinching conservative views on social issues. No matter the winner, the two men stand to split the 30 delegates at stake.

By contrast, Romney is favored to capture Arizona and all 29 delegates in the night’s other primary. There, the campaigning has been scarce and the television commercials ever scarcer, sure signs that Romney’s rivals have scant hope of an upset.

Neither of the other two contenders, Newt Gingrich or Ron Paul, has made much of an effort in either Michigan or Arizona.